The Federal Communications Commission, normally quick to crack down on the slightest infringement, is letting David Ortiz’s f-bomb slide

As George Carlin tells us, there are seven words you can’t say on television. Last week, David “Big Papi” Ortiz got away with saying one of them, and the Federal Communications Commission, normally quick to crack down on the slightest infringement, is letting him slide.

The day after the capture of Dzhokar Tsarnaev, the second suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, the Boston Red Sox played a game against the Kansas City Royals. The game was emotional, the whole city swept up in both pride and exhaustion. And before the game, Big Papi gave an emotional speech. He said:

“This jersey, that we wear today, it doesn’t say ‘Red Sox.’ It says ‘Boston.’ We want to thank you Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department, for the great job that they did this past week. This is our f***ing city. And nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong.”

Now, normally that little f-bomb is a fine of $325,000. And normally the FCC is quick to collect that hefty bill. Their own website says so. “The FCC vigorously enforces this law where we find violations, consistent with constitutional and statutory protections of broadcasters’ freedom of speech,” they write. But this time, they’re letting “Big Papi” slide. CNN reports:

About Rose Eveleth

Rose Eveleth is a writer for Smart News and a producer/designer/ science writer/ animator based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Scientific American, Story Collider, TED-Ed and OnEarth.

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